Michael Hayes, the American
by FamousNoOne
Summary: This is the story of Michael Hayes, who has just moved to Britain and is stuck rooming with the Marauders at Hogwarts. They become friends, but how long can he hide his secrets? RATED M FOR A REASON. There will be slash in the last chapter but I'll write an alternate ending for those of you who are uncomfortable with slash.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello, lovelies! I'm back with another new story! I'm trying to get all of my ideas out before I go back to school next Monday. I'm starting college :/**

**Anyway, here's a nice little ficlet about our favorite Marauders and a boy who just moved to Britain.**

**Enjoy! :)**

**P.S: Don't expect a lot of plot. You regulars know that I'm not an angst writer, and I just like cute little fluffy things. :)**

I understood why they were wary of me, but that didn't mean I was happy about it. It wasn't like I was a Death Eater or anything. I was just an exchange student. Of course, Hogwarts had never had an exchange student and probably never would again, but their Minister had personally requested my dad to come work in their Auror department, so it's not like they had a reason not to trust me.

Except for the obvious: I was encroaching on their territory. These Marauder boys were definitely not fond of me being thrown into their House, their common room, or their dorm room. But that definitely wasn't my fault! It wasn't my fault the Sorting Hat put me in Gryffindor. It wasn't my fault the people in the common room were more interested in me than in them. And it most certainly wasn't my fault that we were all the same age.

As a sixteen-year-old boy, I completely understood why they didn't like me.

As the new kid at Hogwarts, I didn't like it.

So I did the only thing I could think of. I talked to them about it.

We were all sitting in the dorm, added to which was another bed and another thirty-square-feet of room to accommodate another person. The Marauders were all sitting on the beds of James Potter and Sirius Black, which were the beds farthest from me. I could hear them whispering about me, and I wasn't about to ignore it.

"He's _American_," Sirius complained. I couldn't help but chuckle. I knew that would be an issue.

"Yes, but he's here for the next two years so we'll have to at least try to like him," Remus, who was clearly the voice of reason in the group, shot back, glancing at me but looking away when he noticed I was staring at them.

"What do you think, Pete?" James asked the slightly smaller one of the four. I think Peter was probably my favorite so far; he always seemed to think things through before speaking out loud.

After a few moments' contemplation, Peter spoke. "I think he's a filthy American," he said, earning a smile from Sirius, "_but_ I also think Moony could be right. We do have to deal with him for two years. We can't exactly ignore him the whole time."

"You've been doing a great job so far," I said, earning surprised looks from all of them. "Yeah, I know. I can speak. Weird, right? But I tend to do it a lot, so you're going to have to get used to it, especially since you're stuck with me for the next two years. Speaking of which, I have no clue where the restroom is, so if one of you could point me in the general direction of someone who isn't an ass and could take me to one, that would be great."

"I'm not sure I like your tone," James said, glaring at me.

"I'm not sure I like your face," I countered. Stupid comeback, I know, but it was late and I was tired. "So, again, restroom?"

"I'll take you, Michael," Remus said, sliding off the bed. I cocked an eyebrow at him.

"And be stuck with an American? Oh, no, I couldn't let you go through that any more than you already have to. I'll find one on my own, thanks." And with that, I left.

Making my through the crowded common room, I tried not to meet the eyes of all the people who were staring at me. Which was most of them. Once I reached the portrait hole, though, avoiding glares was impossible.

A beautiful red-haired girl stopped me by stepping in front of me, hands on her hips. Her emerald eyes were narrowed and I couldn't help but wonder if she was as offended by my presence as my roommates were.

"Where do you think you're going?" she asked. I frowned.

"The restroom," I said, but it came out as more of a question. This girl was obviously an authoritative figure and I would have to watch myself around her.

"Not without an escort," she said. "As a Gryffindor Prefect, I have to insist that someone walk with you so you don't get lost. Stay here." And then she walked away from me, up the stairs to the boys' dorms, and out of my sight.

What in the world was wrong with all of these Brits? When a man can't walk to the bathroom by himself you know something is off.

Finally, the redhead came down the stairs, followed by Remus Lupin. I groaned. Of course, it would have to be one of them.

I didn't wait around for them to say anything to me. I just walked out of the common room and took a left, smiling at the sound of hurrying footsteps behind me.

"What's your problem?" he asked when he caught up to me. I turned to face him, eyebrows furrowing when I saw that the dim light made his scars more noticeable. I vaguely wondered if we had the same problem, but then I reminded myself that he'd asked me a question.

"Good question. Glad you asked," I said. "I'm at a new school, surrounded by people who talk funny, and I'm rooming with four guys who hate me because they think _I_ talk funny. And then, I try to go and take a piss and some redheaded girl tells me I need an escort, like I'm some sort of child. And then, she comes back with you. One of the guys that hates me for no reason. Enough of a problem for you?"

"Not yet. I think you need to add another thing to that list," he said. I raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, yeah? What's that?"

"You're going the wrong way."

I stopped and stared at him, wondering how much trouble I'd get in if I hexed him right there, then decided against it, reasoning that I didn't need a detention in the first week I was here. I turned on my heel and started walking the other way, not trying to make conversation.

Once we had reached the end of the corridor, and the restroom, I was glad to be rid of him for a moment. I did my business and washed my hands, leaning against the sink just to have a few more minutes to myself.

I didn't know why I was so angry. Why did it matter that they didn't like me? Chances were, my dad would find this guy and we would be out of this country in no time. I was eager to get back to the States, where everyone was used to me. Where I knew who would talk to me and who wouldn't. Where I knew how to hide my secrets.

"You alright in there, mate?" I heard Remus ask. I sighed and made my way back into the corridor, following my roommate all the way back to our dorm, once again ignoring the stares of my fellow Gryffindors.

"As much fun as we had on our little adventure, I think I'm going to go to bed," I said, jumping into bed, fully clothed, and pointing my wands at the curtains, drawing them closed.

"What's his problem?" I heard Sirius ask. I rolled my eyes, ready to explain it to him the way I did for Remus.

But the blond did it for me. "Us," he said. I frowned, but didn't say anything. Perhaps I could try to be a bit nicer. At least to Remus.

The next morning, I was unsurprised to see that three of the Marauders were still very hostile towards me. It seemed that they weren't pleased with what Remus told them last night. Not that I cared, of course. I didn't need their help; all I had to do was follow my fellow Gryffindors. So that's what I did. I nonchalantly stayed a safe distance away from the redhead girl from last night as we all made our way down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

I found a seat at the Gryffindor table, well away from my fellow early birds, and filled my plate with a couple pieces of French toast and bacon. I was halfway finished when the Marauders came in, making an ungodly amount of noise for how early in the morning it was. I turned my head back to my plate hoping to go unnoticed by my roommates, but to no avail.

"Good morning, Michael," Sirius said cheerfully, piling food onto his plate. I nodded to him but made no other acknowledgements. We all ate in silence until McGonagall handed all of us sixth years our schedules.

"Bloody fantastic," Peter groaned. "Potions first thing with the Slytherins. How could this day get any worse?"

"You could be that redheaded girl?" I said, nodding to the scene unfolding in front of them. The girl who was against late night restrooms visits was talking to some greasy-looking guy with whom she didn't look pleased.

"What's that slimy git doing talking to Evans? After what he said to her last year, I'm surprised she's not hexing his balls off," Sirius said. I gave him a questioning look, but he was too busy trying to hold James back that he didn't see it.

"That's Severus Snape," Remus said, gaining my attention. I turned to him, once again shocked by the sight of the scars on his face, noticing a particularly nasty one that followed the line of his jaw. "He's talking to Lily Evans, who James has been obsessed with since he first saw her. Snape and Lily were best friends, completely inseparable until Snape called Lily a Mudblood last year."

"Which didn't help the hatred we all feel towards him," Peter said. "Especially James."

"Padfoot, let me go. I'm not going to hex him, I swear. I want her to know I'm different," the bespectacled boy said to Sirius. Those three sentences had me even more confused. I turned to Remus again.

"Lily won't go out with James because she's convinced he's an arrogant toerag," he explained.

"And rightly so," I commented, earning a glare from James.

"Normally I would agree with you, but he really has changed. He just doesn't make the effort to show it all the time," Remus muttered. I gave him a skeptical look but didn't say anything. I went back to my breakfast, ignoring James' whining about Lily Evans.

Even though I had started much before they had, the Marauders finished their breakfast at the same time I did. Sirius, James, and Peter all wolfed down their food. Remus just didn't eat a lot, which surprised me because he was almost as big as his friends. Not fat, but… built? Perhaps he just had a high metabolism.

Anyway, they were nice enough to wait for me so we could all walk to Potions together since I had no clue where I was going. We walked down some increasingly narrower hallways until we reached the dungeon-like Potions classroom. Sirius and Peter sat at a table together, and James ran off to sit by Lily, so Remus offered to sit next to me. I didn't say no, knowing I would need help. Potions was definitely one of my worst subjects and it would be nice to have someone civil to talk to while I failed.

Professor Slughorn came in shortly after and explained that we were going to be brewing a Draught of Living Death, which terrified me, but I gathered the ingredients anyway and began working.

"Can I ask you a question, Michael?" I heard Remus ask softly. I looked over at him and saw that he was very concentrated on mashing his root of asphodel into a fine powder. I was still measuring my wormwood…

"Sure," I said, rereading the directions to make sure I was following them precisely. I couldn't handle a failed potion on the first day of class at a new school.

"Are you really that opposed to the Marauders?" I wasn't expecting that. I was so surprised that my knife slipped and I nicked my finger.

"Shit!" I waved my finger in the air to ease the pain. Remus, without even looking, grabbed my hand and set in on the table, then brought his wand to it. The pain went away immediately, and the guy never took his eyes off his asphodel.

"Thanks," I muttered. It took me a minute to realize I never answered him. "And, I guess I'm not all that against you guys. It just seemed like you were all against me."

He didn't say anything to that, just kept working on his potion. I decided to take his lead, and didn't speak again for the rest of class.

Later that night, I found myself in the library writing my Transfiguration essay when a weight on the other end of the couch pulled me from my thoughts.

"Hey, new kid." It was a lovely raven-haired girl with blue eyes, and she was smiling brightly at me. I smiled back politely, then turned back to my essay. She wasn't having that, though. She reached over and put her hand under my chin, forcing me to turn back to her.

"I'm Marlene McKinnon," she said, still smiling.

"Michael Hayes," I said. "Nice to meet you." I tried again to get back to my essay, but the girl scooted closer to me and wrapped her leg around my calf. I sighed.

"You have the loveliest green eyes," she said. I didn't answer; maybe if I ignored her she would go away. "And the softest hair. It's so pretty. Brown, like chocolate." I picked up my quill, wondering if it would offend her if I stabbed my own eye out…

"Marley!" I heard a familiar voice yell. It was promptly hushed by Madam Pince, the librarian. Suddenly, Marlene had stiffened and I looked up to see Sirius, Remus, and Peter. Sirius was the one who had yelled for the black-haired girl next to me, and she obviously didn't want the attention. I knew the feeling.

"Go away, Black. I'm trying to have a conversation," she said, cozying up to me even more.

"I'm actually trying to write my essay," I said softly. She pulled away from me, seemingly upset.

"Fine. We can continue this later," she huffed, standing and straightening her uniform.

As she walked away I said, "I'd rather not," under my breath, but Marlene apparently heard it because she made a sound of indignation, turned, and gave me the finger, which was much different in the UK, and then stormed off.

Sirius gave me a disbelieving look and ran after the girl, leaving me with Remus and Peter who couldn't stop laughing. Peter plopped down next to me, clutching his stomach and Remus pulled a chair over from another table, still chuckling.

"Will someone please explain to me what just happened?" I asked, completely forgetting about my essay.

"That was Marlene McKinnon," Peter said as if that should explain everything.

"So?"

"So she's only the most wanted broad in Hogwarts. I don't think she's ever been rejected, actually," the smaller blond said. "In fact, I'd watch out if I were you. She gets pretty scary when she's determined to get what she wants. And right now, that something is you."

Great. Now I had even more to worry about.

"So, where's James?" I asked Remus and Peter.

"He's up in the dorms, working on Quidditch plays," Remus answered. It was the first time he'd spoken to me since Potions. He didn't even say anything in Arithmancy, though he had sat by me again.

"Already? Isn't it a bit early for that?" I asked. Peter gave me a funny look.

"You clearly don't know James," he answered, going back to his essay. I waited for either of them to elaborate, but it never happened so I rolled up the sleeves of my button-down and got back to work.

"Where'd you get those scars, mate?" I looked up to see that Sirius and James had joined us. James was the one who asked, and I felt the eyes of all the Marauders on my arm, where three long, thin scars marred the skin.

"I was at the zoo with dad and I stuck my arm in to pet the kitty. Even baby tigers don't like humans," I lied easily. It wasn't a tiger that got me. The beast was more canine than feline.

"Wasn't anyone watching you?" Peter asked.

"Of course. But I was young and much quicker than they were, and that tiger was quicker than me." I was starting to get uncomfortable. Everyone in America had accepted the lie, no problem, but these boys were definitely analyzing everything I was saying. I began to worry that my roommates would soon discover my secret.

"I gotta go, guys. See you later," I said, throwing my things in my backpack and rushing out of the library. I didn't stop until I was safely in the common room, curtains drawn, and silencing charm cast.

I couldn't let them find out. I had no clue how any of them would react and quite frankly, I didn't want to know. I just wanted to get through my time here so I could go along with my life, and evade anyone who was suspicious of me, like I was sure my roommates now were.

I didn't need friends. I could get through school without them. What I needed was to talk to the Headmaster. The full moon was the next night, and I still didn't know where he was keeping me.

The next day went well, despite the fact that I felt awful thanks to the full moon; I tried to avoid the Marauders as much as possible so they wouldn't notice my change in behavior, the scrutinizing bastards, but they never seemed to be far away from me. I had every class with at least one of them and they always sat next to me so that I couldn't escape their glances.

They surrounded me at meals, too. It was only my second day at Hogwarts and already I had a gang, it seemed. I was constantly under their watch, but I didn't think it was me they should be watching. Remus was the one who looked terrible. I noticed that Remus ate progressively less with each meal, and by dinner he looked as sick as I felt. I wasn't eating much either, and they all seemed to notice that I was only pushing my food around my plate.

The full moon always took a toll on my health, and when Sirius asked if I was feeling okay, I told him it was probably just a stomach bug, which only served to make him – and the rest of the Marauders – more suspicious. I sighed inwardly, cursing their perceptiveness.

"When are you leaving tonight, Remus?" James asked the sandy-haired boy in front of me.

"Same time, I suppose," he answered.

"Where are you going? I thought students couldn't leave the grounds," I questioned. If I had known we could leave, I would have gone home for the moon.

"His mum's sick," Sirius said. "He goes home once a month to visit." I didn't say anything else. I felt sorry for Remus, though, to be stuck here while his mom could be dying. No wonder he looked so bad.

Soon we were all finished eating, and as we stood to leave, Professor McGonagall stopped me. "Good evening, Mr. Hayes. The Headmaster requires your presence in his office at eight o'clock this evening. Mr. Lupin will escort you." And with that she was gone. I turned to Remus, who only stared at me, then shook my head and hurried out of the Great Hall.

At ten 'til eight, Remus came upstairs to our dorm. I silently slid off my bed and followed him out of the common room. We were both moving pretty slowly; I wasn't sure what Remus' problem was, but I thought it odd that he seemed to be mirroring my movements…

Holy shit. Remus Lupin was a werewolf. Holy shit.

"Shit. Shit fuck ass bitch!" I exclaimed, jumping away from him. He stared at me, wide-eyed. "Merlin's saggy left testicle, you're a werewolf!"

He stopped walking. Stopped moving. Stopped breathing, it seemed, from the color his face was turning.

"Breathe, Remus," I reminded him. He let out a long breath, but still stared.

"How?" he whispered. I assumed he was asking how I knew, so I answered him in the simplest terms I could think of.

"I am, too," I said, shrugging. "I can't believe we didn't notice sooner. Shouldn't our instincts be better than this?"

Remus took a deep breath but didn't say anything. He ran a hand through his hair and stared down at the ground.

"So…" I said awkwardly. "Now what?" I wasn't exactly sure where to go from here. I'd never met another werewolf, and I'd definitely never heard of any my age.

"Now we go see what Dumbledore wants, and we'll finish this when we get back to our dorm. Though, I have a pretty good idea of what he's going to talk to you about."

We made our way to the Headmaster's office, but it seemed we didn't have to go too far. We saw the gray-haired old man when we turned the corner.

"Ah, there you are! It occurred to me that I never gave you the password so I came down to wait for you. I couldn't help but overhear your discoveries, however," the headmaster said, blue eyes twinkling. "And now, we need to discuss what will happen tonight. Would you like to join me in my office?" Remus and I looked at each other, then looked at the headmaster and nodded. What choice did we have?

As we made our way up the spiral staircase, I couldn't help the foreboding feeling in the pit of my stomach. I closed my eyes and prayed that I would come out of this night alive.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hello, lovelies. I feel like the three of you that actually read this are going to think that I abandoned it after one chapter, but that is certainly NOT the case. This has four chapters :) And the only reason it's taken me so long is because my internet has not been very nice lately. Also, college, right? HAHAHAHA no but seriously it's awful.**

**But I did not and will not leave any story unfinished, so here it is!**

**Enjoy!**

The Shrieking Shack. The most haunted place in Britain. That's where Dumbledore wanted us to stay tonight.

Of course, now I knew it wasn't really haunted. It was just inhabited by a werewolf once a month. I found that slightly funny.

"So, I assume you're not really going to visit your sick mother tonight?" I asked Remus as we were on our way back to Gryffindor Tower. He chuckled.

"You assume correctly," he said, smiling.

"Is that just something you tell James, Sirius, and Peter?" I questioned, wondering how they'd all fallen for this for so many years.

To my surprise, Remus shook his head. "They, er… They know. About me. That's just something we tell the rest of the school. People tend to believe the Marauders." I couldn't believe my ears! They _knew_? They knew and they were still his friends? Still wanted to be around him?

I voiced these questions, which caused Remus to chuckle again. "I thought the same things when I first met them, and then they found out and… well, they've done all they can to make me feel better."

"What do you mean?" I asked. He stopped walking and I turned to face him. He did this a lot, didn't he? His legs are probably attached to his brain; when one is working the other can't.

"How terrible is it? For you, I mean?" he asked. He wanted to know about my transformations?

"The same as everyone else, I expect. Complete torture until you change, and then more torture, but now it's combined with the writhing and fighting against the restraints. Isn't that what yours is like?" I asked when his eyebrows knitted together.

"No," he whispered, sounding disgusted. "What do you mean restraints?"

"You know. The chains and ropes and spells and… You aren't restrained?" Was this just something I did?

"Of course not," he told me adamantly. "Who did that to you?"

"I did. I didn't want to hurt anyone," I said quietly.

"Didn't you have a safe room or something? I always did," he told me. I gave him a look that clearly said I didn't. "That's so odd. Why wouldn't you?" We started walking again.

"My parents are Aurors. Over in the States, that means we have to move around a lot, since it's such a big country," I explained. Remus nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets. He was quiet for a while.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Everything about what you told me," he said. "That's terrible. Having to be restrained every time you change just because you don't have anywhere safe to go. That's awful."

I shrugged. "Well, I guess I won't have to worry about it tonight," I said.

"Yes, because I have the perfect solution," Remus said. I gave him a questioning glance, but he only smiled and kept walking.

This guy is weird, I thought, but followed him nonetheless.

Silence. That's all I was getting.

Remus and I had just told the rest of the Marauders that I was a werewolf.

They weren't saying anything.

And then they did.

"That's bloody fantastic!"

"Someone new to run around with! This will be great!"

"Hope he doesn't mind rats."

"Or deer."

"Or dogs."

"What?" I finally interrupted all of the chaos. I didn't understand any of what they had been saying and I needed some explanations.

"Oh, right!" Sirius said, jumping up and putting an arm around my shoulder. "We're Animagi!"

I stared at him.

I stared at him for a long time.

"You're what?!"

"Animagi. I turn into a big, black dog. James is a stag. Pete's a rat. And you know about Moony," he explained. I looked at all of them. Sirius and James with their big, proud smiles; Peter with his happy little grin. And Remus, who was looking at his friends with such admiration that it made my heart twinge a little.

"Wait," I said, Sirius' explanation finally hitting me. I pulled away from his arm and glared at him. "Padfoot? Prongs? Wormtail? _Moony_?" I asked, quoting the nicknames I had heard over the last 72 hours. They all nodded. "How does no one pick up on these things?" I exclaimed, causing all of them to laugh. I sat down heavily on my bed.

"This is insane," I muttered. "I'm living with four insane people!"

"We're not insane," James said, standing from his bed and stretching. "We just care about Moony. We didn't want him to have to go through those awful transformations by himself so we did some research and we found out that having familiar animals around could help a werewolf out, so we became Animagi."

"But… But you could have died!" I couldn't believe any of this.

"We've heard all of this before, mate," Peter said. "And we didn't die, and we help Moony out every month, so it was definitely worth the pain."

And then I understood. I understood why Remus admired his friends so much, and why he was so surprised that I felt like I had restrain myself every month, and why he was so willing to let me into their little group.

Everyone deserved to feel like they were really, truly wanted and accepted, and I now knew what that felt like.

"What if they fight?" I asked Remus. We had been sitting in a room in the Shrieking Shack with scratches along the walls and floorboards and a few bloodstains here and there, and the state of the room had gotten to me.

"Who?" he asked from his place on the bed. I was sitting across from him on the floor, my back against the wall.

"The wolves. What if you try to fight me?"

"The others wouldn't let that happen," he answered. "They'd stop us."

"I suppose it doesn't matter anyway," I said, causing Remus to give me a funny look. "I wouldn't fight. I'm the new guy here; I'd submit."

My roommate cocked an eyebrow at me. "You'd do that?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I?" Remus shrugged, staring down at his hands which were resting on his knees.

"When did it happen to you?" I asked, wanting to know how long he'd been like this. He didn't answer at first, just kept staring down at his hands.

"I was six," he said, finally breaking the silence. "I was playing outside. It was late, and getting dark, and my parents had told me to come in but I was stubborn. I wanted to keep playing. A man came up to me, saying that my father would regret what he'd done, and then he bit me. I don't remember much of it, but I later discovered he'd bitten me because my father had been working against him. My father is a Ministry worker, you see. In the Department for the Regulation of Dangerous Creatures. He does what he can to help us, but there isn't much he can do." I nodded, understanding the dilemma. Most people were frightened of us, and didn't think we should be treated like other humans. "What about you?" he asked. I sighed.

"I was twelve," I said. "We were living in Chicago, which is a relatively dangerous city. I was walking home from school and I was pulled into a deserted alleyway by some skanky-looking woman. All she was saying was how hungry she was, and I was too scared to scream. She bit me. Left me for dead. If it hadn't been for a sweet old elderly woman, I probably would have died. And that's what happened." I couldn't say much else. There was a lump in my throat. Thankfully, Remus didn't pry.

He was quiet for a few minutes, but then he broke the silence with a statement I never thought I'd hear come out of his mouth.

"We should probably undress, now." I couldn't help it; I blushed. This was going to be way more awkward than I had originally thought.

"Yeah," I said, clearing my throat. "I think you're right." I could feel the pull of the moon, and I knew we were going to change soon, but I still didn't want to take my clothes off in front of a guy I had only known for three days. I had to, however, and so I stood, kicking off my shoes and pulling my socks off. I loosened my tie, pulling it over my head.

I accidentally looked at Remus as I did so. His shirt was already off, and I couldn't help but notice that the scars that etched his face also covered his torso. I wondered if perhaps I had saved myself from that kind of pain when I decided that I needed to be restrained. The only scars I had were from the original attack.

"How bad do they hurt? The scars, I mean," I asked, unbuttoning my shirt. Remus looked down at his chest and let his hand trail across one of the worst scars.

"They used to hurt a lot, especially when I woke up," he said, pulling off his shoes and socks. "But then James and Sirius and Pete came along and I stopped ripping at my own skin. The wolf was very happy to have friends he could count on. Eventually I stopped waking up with bleeding wounds. These are all years old." I contemplated that. Maybe I wouldn't have so much to worry about with the Marauders around. Maybe the restraints wouldn't be necessary.

"Aw, we love you, too, Moony!" I jumped. That was definitely Sirius' voice, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"What the hell?" I gasped. And then suddenly, they were there. "Holy shit, is that a real invisibility cloak?" James nodded proudly, folding the cloak and setting it gently in the corner of the room, then taking the rat – Peter – and setting him on the bed.

"So, what's the plan?" James asked, petting Peter the rat. I found that slightly odd, but then decided they were used to acting so comfortably around each other.

"We'll change and see how the wolves react to each other and go from there," I said, unbuttoning my pants. I wasn't going to take them off until I knew the change was right on top of me. The less embarrassment the better.

"And what if they don't like each other?" Sirius questioned, flopping down onto the bed.

"No worries. If that happens, I'll make sure my wolf submits. It's only right," I said, sliding down to the floor. Sirius and James shared looks, but I was suddenly in too much pain to care. I heard Remus groan and knew he was feeling the same agony that I was. Apparently James and Sirius knew what this meant, because where they used to be there now stood a large black dog and a magnificent stag, between whose antlers was a brown rat.

I slid my pants off while I still had the mind to do so and then I was gone.

The wolf sniffed the air and growled, his fur prickling at the unfamiliar scents. He tried to stand but was immediately pushed back down. He snapped at the intruder until he realized that he knew that scent. He looked up into the face of a sandy-haired wolf with a snout much like his own, but this wolf was clearly not like him. No, this wolf was an alpha. More importantly, this wolf was _his_ alpha.

Baring his neck to the alpha, the wolf knew that submission was the only way to come out of this alive. He lay there in the submissive pose, waiting for the alpha to decide what to do. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the alpha opened his jaw and took the wolf's neck into his mouth. The alpha kept his teeth against the wolf until he was satisfied the wolf had completely submitted to him, and then he slowly backed away. The wolf took this as a sign that he could stand.

He looked around the room and saw his alpha, and his… pack? His alpha was clearly the leader of the rest of the creatures around him. Did that make them a pack?

He hoped so. They had a wonderful time, running through the forest, chasing smaller animals, sometimes hunting them. They played, fighting with each other gleefully. They ran and howled and barked.

And the wolf was glad, because he had a pack. He had a leader and he had his packmates and he was happy.

I woke up with a splitting headache. I groaned and turned away from the light streaming through a crack in the wall, and that was when I realized I was completely naked. My eyes flew open and I looked down – yes, that was my naked body down there.

"Shit," I muttered as I sat up and frantically started searching for my pants. I didn't see them until they were flying through the air at my face. I caught them and instinctually covered my… ahem… little guy, before thanking Remus.

Oh, god. Remus.

I looked over at my fellow werewolf and automatically wished I hadn't. He was facing away from me and was just pulling his pants on. I wasn't trying to look at my friend inappropriately, but I couldn't stop staring at the huge gash across his back.

"Remus, how bad does that hurt?" I asked, standing and pulling my pants on as quickly as I could. I felt a sharp pain in my side as I did so and had to stop and take a second. I couldn't take a deep breath so I figured something was wrong with my ribs. I'd figure it out later; Remus was clearly worse off.

He had turned around and I could now see that his face was pale and strained. I walked over to him. "Remus? Can you make it back to the castle?" He nodded, then walked over to the corner of the room and picked up James' invisibility cloak, throwing it around himself but holding it open for me.

"We can't just waltz in like this," he said. I looked at him uncertainly but got under the cloak anyway. I tried not to touch Remus' back, but when we had to climb the stairs and my ribs protested, I leaned forward and hit it. The boy in front of me hissed and I apologized profusely, hoping we made it back to the castle soon.

Twenty minutes and many complaints from my ribs later, we were in two beds in the Hospital Wing. Remus was on his stomach, his back bubbling with some thick potion Madame Pomfrey had spread over the wound, and I had two broken ribs, which was worse than I thought, but it was nothing a little Skele-Grow couldn't fix.

"You boys will need to stay here overnight," Madame Pomfrey said.

"What time is it?" I asked wearily, already feeling the tiring effects of the transformation. Remus groaned as Madame Pomfrey smeared more of the potion on his back. Apparently that wound was worse than I originally thought.

"It's two in the morning," she replied curtly, making her way over to me. She pressed lightly over the bandages which were wrapped tightly around my torso, making me hiss, but she had a slight smile so I assumed I was healing just fine.

"So, when you say overnight…?" Remus mumbled. I chuckled at the sound of his muffled voice then stopped when it sent a sharp pain through my torso.

"You will be able to attend classes," she answered. "I believe this is a first for you, Mr. Lupin."

I was surprised. Really? Were his wounds usually that awful that he was stuck in the Hospital Wing for days? I'd never had that problem. Then again, I was never able to move because of the restraints.

"Now, I suggest the two of you get as much sleep as you can. When you wake up, I'll look you over and then you can be off," she told us. Without another word, she turned and went back into her office, putting out the candles and shutting the door behind her.

"How are you feeling?" Remus asked me. He sounded dead tired so I wasn't sure why he was still talking.

"Better than you, probably," I answered. He chuckled against the pillow but I saw him give a small nod.

"Probably," he agreed. "Sorry about that by the way." He gestured to my ribs vaguely with his hand.

"Was that you?" I asked. "I thought it was James."

Remus shook his head. "It was me. James got my back and knocked me into you." I nodded.

"Ah. Well, that explains a lot," I said. It didn't really, but I didn't know what else to say. "How are you doing?"

"I can't feel it. Whatever she put on me is working. My back is completely numb," he answered, closing his eyes. Within seconds, he was snoring softly.

I closed my eyes, too, smiling to myself. Full moons wouldn't be so bad as long as I had my pack with me.

"I am so sorry, mate," James apologized for the twentieth time. Remus and I had woken up just in time for classes to start and Madame Pomfrey had let us go without too much hassle. We ran up to our dorm to get our books, both still a little sore, and had made it to Potions with barely a second to spare.

Now we were in Transfiguration, and today was thankfully a practical day so we had an opportunity to talk to one another without fear of being overheard. James had been trying to apologize for our injuries since he heard about what happened, but Remus wasn't having it.

"Prongs, give it a rest. It was an accident," he said calmly as he lazily transfigured his hairpin into a macaw again for the umpteenth time.

"Besides," I said, transfiguring my book into a perch for my macaw, "Remus got another awesome scar out of it. Ladies dig battle scars." Remus scoffed but didn't say anything.

"Man, I should have thought of that before!" Sirius exclaimed. "Get me next time, Prongs!"

"I'm not going to purposely wound you, Pads," James said, shrinking back when his hairpin squawked at him.

"Come on, maybe it would finally get Marley to admit she wants me!" Sirius said, glancing over his shoulder at Marlene, who was still staring at me. I ignored her, again.

"What do you have that I don't?" Sirius muttered at me.

"Whatever it is, I'd gladly give it to you," I answered, sneaking a peek over my shoulder at Marlene. She saw me and winked. I shuddered and turned back to my macaw, wishing someone would transfigure me so Marlene would leave me alone.

Maybe I won't ask James, I thought, staring at his hairpin/macaw hybrid, which was now flying around his head, trying to poke him in the eye. Yeah, definitely not asking James.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hello, lovelies! Here's another chapter of this story. I'm 99% sure that no one is reading this, so if you are reading this, can you PLEASE leave a review so I know I'm not posting this for no reason. :( It can even be a review about how much you hate it. I don't care! I just need to know that SOMEONE has seen this.**

**Okay, now that my "pity me" rant is over, on to the story!**

**Enjoy! :)**

Two weeks later and the drama from the first night was completely forgotten. The Marauders seemed to fully accept me, even coming to me for ideas for pranks. In fact, on the Thursday night before the Hogsmeade trip – to which I had been invited by the Marauders – we were in the middle of planning a rather nasty attack on Snape and his evil followers when we were approached by…

Marlene.

This girl was really starting to get on my nerves. She always came up to me when I was alone, trying to get me to agree to go out with her, night of my life, blah blah blah…

"Oh, hello, Michael," she said, acting as if she didn't know I was here. This was becoming a common occurrence. She was always "randomly" running into me, sometimes literally, and I couldn't help but feel a little revolted by her perseverance. It was quite annoying when I was trying to eat and someone "accidentally" tripped and rubbed their chest across my face.

"Hey," I said, not taking my eyes off our plans for the next prank which had all been charmed to look like homework.

"Are you going to Hogsmeade this weekend?" she asked, sidling over to me and bending over just enough to give me a wonderful view of her chest. The girl was well-endowed, I had to admit, but I kept my eyes on my paper like a good boy, not wanting to encourage her.

"He's going with us," I heard Remus say. I was slightly frightened of the undertone of anger in his voice, but I supposed he was just as tired of her bothering us as I was.

"Oh," she said, slightly put out. "Well, I hope we run into each other." Then she walked away, not bothering to stop the sway of her hips. I groaned and let my head fall against the table with a loud bang.

"Buggering hell, that broad is getting annoying," James muttered, pulling the prank plans from under my forehead. I groaned again.

"What is it with you?" Sirius exclaimed. "She's completely shag-able and you won't even look twice at her! Do you already have a girlfriend or something?" I chuckled.

"Yeah, right," I muttered. "I'm just not interested in her," I said, sitting up and hoping that was all I'd have to say on the subject.

"You belong in the loony bin, mate. She's gorgeous," Sirius sighed, not bothering to hide the fact that he was staring at Marlene as she talked to Lily.

"You can have her, Sirius," I said to him, grabbing the prank plans back from James. "Now, I think it would be better if we…"

Finally, the Hogsmeade weekend came along. The Marauders and I slept in a little later than we wanted to but we hurried to shower and get dressed, then we made our way to the village of Hogsmeade. I stared in awe when we reached the town.

It was amazing. The leaves of the trees were changing color with the arrival of autumn and the different colors that surrounded the town made it look like it belonged in a children's book. In fact, the whole village could be straight out of a children's book. As we walked through the different streets, I noticed odd shops of all kinds. We didn't have anything like this in America, mostly because we didn't have an all-Wizarding village in America…

"Sirius and I need to go to Zonko's," James said. "You guys go to Honeyduke's and get some stuff. We're planning a small party tonight." Remus looked at James in confusion but he and Sirius had already loped off in the direction of the joke shop.

"I don't understand those two sometimes," Pete said, shaking his head. I agreed with him, but I wouldn't ever want them to change. How else would I get entertainment?

The three of us made our way to Honeyduke's, which had my mouth watering within seconds. The place was huge, and filled with sweets ranging from regular chocolates and hard candies to blood-flavored lollipops and teacups that bit your nose when you drank from them. Remus and Peter left me to myself to go and search for things for the party that we were apparently having. I made my way over to the bins of Bertie Bott's beans and was debating whether or not I was going to purchase some when someone grabbed my ass.

I jumped away from the hand and turned to face the culprit. I should have known that it would be Marlene. I groaned and turned away from her, hoping she'd get the point.

"I just knew we'd run into each other," she said, pressing her body up against me. I tried to pull away but she just followed me.

"Look," I began, but she pressed her finger to my lips. My eyes widened in surprise and I got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"Shh," she said, "you don't need to say anything." She moved her finger from my mouth and I tried to speak but in the next second her mouth was on mine.

I jerked away. "What the hell?" I exclaimed, wiping her saliva from my lips. "In what universe does kissing someone against their will make them want to go out with you?"

"In my universe," she said, stepping toward me. I backed into the corner, cursing this girl's parents for creating her.

"Okay, well, down here on Earth that's called assault, so if you could just not," I said, but her lips cut me off again. When I finally pushed her off of me again, she simply winked at me, turned around, and walked away.

I stared at the place she had been standing in disbelief.

My first kiss.

Was with a girl.

A very attractive girl, but a girl nonetheless.

Yup. It's official. I knew it.

I'm definitely gay.

"You look thoroughly snogged," Pete said when I found him and Remus paying for the assorted sweets.

"I guess I would, considering Marlene McKinnon just assaulted me," I said, wiping my mouth again. Remus looked upset but Pete just looked confused.

"You know, Mikey," he said as we walked away with the bags of goodies, "I don't understand why you think that's such a bad thing. Sirius is right; she's definitely good-looking." I shrugged and didn't say anything else, too wrapped up in my thoughts to even notice that we had met up with Sirius and James and began walking back to the castle.

Thanks to Marlene McKinnon, my suspicions about my sexuality had been confirmed. I was definitely more attracted to men. Not that I didn't notice how pretty girls were, because they really were beautiful creatures, but I just wasn't attracted to them sexually. I was never positive, but thanks to Marlene I definitely knew now.

But how would my new friends react? They had taken me being a werewolf pretty well, right? So why would they be upset that I was gay?

They wouldn't, and I knew that, but that didn't mean I was going to flaunt my sexuality in their faces. If they found out, they found out, but I doubted that would happen. None of the guys at Hogwarts had caught my eye so far…

"Are you okay, Michael?" a voice asked, breaking through my thoughts. I was surprised to see that we were almost at the castle. I looked over to see Remus giving me a worried look.

"Of course," I said truthfully. I was okay; I finally knew who I was, and I had great friends who would support me should my semi-secret be revealed. Why wouldn't I be okay?

"Alright, boys," James announced that night after dinner. We were all sitting at a table by the fire playing Exploding Snap. I was losing, but not by much, so as long as I kept my focus, I could beat Peter. "It's time to begin." At this, Sirius jumped up, causing me to jump.

Bang!

I coughed the smoke out of my lungs and opened my eyes to see the Marauders laughing at me. I knew it would be bad, but I reached up anyway.

"Dammit!" I exclaimed, jumping up. "You got my eyebrows again!" This was the third time this week that I had lost the game and my eyebrows, and by now Remus was very good at fixing the damage. I looked at him hopefully and once he had stopped laughing he fixed my face.

"What's it time for?" Peter said after cleaning up the residue from the cards. James and Sirius smiled at each other mischievously.

"Good question, Pete! Sirius and I found a great new game in Zonko's, and the five of us, Lily, Marlene, and Olivia are all going to play!" James said proudly.

"Did the girls agree to this?" Remus asked, patting some soot off my shoulder. I silently thanked him and he nodded.

"Of course! They're meeting us in our dorm in ten minutes, so let's go on up!" James said, leading the way up to our dorm. We followed him up, and I was extremely surprised when we got to our room.

All of our beds were gone, replaced with couches and chairs that were all sitting along one side of the room. And the floor was actually clean of everything; all of our stuff had been packed away and pushed against the wall perpendicular to the wall of couches, leaving the floor void of any obstructions. I was wondering what I'd gotten myself into when James and Sirius pushed me, Remus, and Pete onto a couch. We were relatively squished considering the couches were only made for two to sit comfortably.

We were all silent as we watched James and Sirius reach under one of the chairs and pull out a paper bag. James reached into the bag and pulled out a glass bottle with a white label on it. They set it on the floor and Sirius touched his wand to it and muttered something.

There was a knock at the door. "That'll be the women," James said, jumping up. "You three," he pointed at us, "sit on the floor. Leave space." We did as we were told while James answered the door, letting the girls in. He then locked it and cast a silencing charm.

"I don't like the sound of this," Lily said as she sat between me and James. Marlene tried to sit on my other side, but Remus thankfully beat her to it, leaving Marlene to sit between James and Sirius, who was next to Peter. Olivia sat between Peter and Remus, and Sirius then took a deep breath.

"Welcome to Truth or Dare," he announced. I groaned.

"Is there a problem, Mikey?" Sirius asked innocently. I shook my head, but had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that this was not going to end well.

"What's the bottle for?" Lily asked. "There isn't usually a bottle."

"The bottle, my dear Lily-flower, is for the Truth portion of the game. The bottle spews black smoke when someone is lying and white smoke when they're telling the truth," James explained. I sighed. This was too much. So many things were going to come into light by the end of this.

"Rules!" Sirius exclaimed, causing me, Lily, and Remus to jump. "One, there is no backing out. We play until we get uncomfortable. You can walk away at any time," he said, earning approving glances from all of us. No one expected him to be that forgiving. "Two, every time you refuse a truth or dare, you take a drink!" Suddenly, a bottle of firewhiskey appeared next to the Truth Bottle. I sighed; I was such a lightweight I'd have to answer every truth and do every dare thrown at me. "Three, there is no limit to what you can ask or dare someone to do, but the other person must be completely willing to do it. So basically, you can't force yourself on someone. Everyone understand the rules?" We all nodded. "Good! Prongs, you start. Then whoever he picks goes next, provided they complete what is asked of them. If someone doesn't do it, the person on your left goes after you. Got it?" We all nodded again.

"Alright," he said, grinning. "Evans! Truth or dare?" Lily groaned.

"Truth," she said.

"Is it true that you hate me?" he asked.

"Yes!" she said automatically. We all looked at the bottle, which was now spewing black smoke. This got quite a few laughs from the group and a yell of victory from James.

"Whatever," Lily grumbled. "Marlene, truth or dare?" she asked the black-haired girl.

"Dare," she answered.

"I dare you… to sit on Black's lap for three turns," the redhead said, grinning evilly. She got a glare from Marlene who scooted over onto Sirius' lap. Sirius, whose smile probably couldn't get any wider, welcomed her with open arms. Marlene crossed her legs and glared at Lily.

"Michael," she said. I gulped, wondering what hell she was going to put me through. "Truth or dare?"

"Um… Truth?" I said, hoping that was the safest option. It wasn't.

"Is it true that you didn't like it when I kissed you?" I groaned and put my head in my hands, not wanting to hurt her feelings, but desperate for her to leave me alone.

"Yes," I mumbled, wincing at the white smoke coming from the bottle. Marlene shrieked with anger, then looked down at Sirius and lovingly threw her arms around him, making him grin smugly. I silently thanked Merlin that she was finally off my back.

"Pete," I said, looking at my little blond friend. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare," he said bravely, glancing longingly at Olivia. I don't think he wanted anyone to see that look, but I noticed and smiled.

"I dare you to kiss Olivia," I said. Both of them turned red and Peter looked at her questioningly. She gave him a small nod and leaned forward, letting Peter press his lips to hers. She looked slightly upset when he quickly pulled away.

"Olivia," Peter said, clearing his throat. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth," she squeaked.

"Is it true that you liked it when I kissed you?" Peter asked hopefully.

"Yes." White smoke. We all whistled and cheered, causing them to turn even redder.

"Peter," she said. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare," he said, less confidently, but obviously hoping to kiss her again.

"I dare you to ask me to be your girlfriend," she said quietly. We all "ooh'd" and "ahh'd" when Peter did as he was asked and they kissed again.

After a few moments of that, Remus cleared his throat. Peter pulled away from his now-girlfriend and cleared his throat, then looked at Remus.

"Remus, truth or dare?" Pete asked.

Remus considered Pete for a moment, then said, "Truth."

"Is it true that fancy someone?" Peter asked, chuckling.

"Yes," Remus sighed. When the smoke turned white Lily, James, and Sirius all "ooh'd".

"Sirius. Truth or dare?" Remus asked.

Sirius grinned, looking at Marlene and said, "Dare, of course."

Remus smiled, obviously getting the result he wanted. "I dare you to snog McKinnon." Marlene's eyes widened as Sirius grinned up at her.

"Say no and I won't," he said to her, "but you'll be the first person to drink." This steeled her resolve, and she grabbed Sirius' face and planted one right on him.

"Is that against the rules?" I asked Remus. "Since technically she kissed him?" He shrugged, so I guessed he was going to let it go.

Sirius and Marlene pulled away with a pop and she immediately turned away from him and crossed her arms. But it was Sirius' turn, and when she said "Dare," I thought we were going to have to watch them kiss again, but Sirius surprised me.

"I dare you to tell me honestly that you didn't enjoy that," he said, smiling. She glared at him.

"I did not enjoy that," she said. We all gasped when the bottle spewed so much black smoke that James had to cast a spell to clear it all away.

"You're still in my lap, McKinnon," Sirius said smugly. She huffed and sat back on the floor, red-faced but determined to keep her dignity.

"Lily," Marlene said, causing the redhead to stop laughing and stare wide-eyed at her friend. "Truth or dare?"

"Erm… Truth?" she asked warily. Marlene grinned.

"Is it true that you don't want to snog Potter?" Lily's jaw dropped and she looked at James, her face almost as red as her hair.

Then, she sighed in defeat. "No," she mumbled, causing James to throw his arm around and kiss her soundly on the cheek.

"Potter," she said, "truth or dare?"

"Truth, my Lily-flower," he said, his arm still around her.

"Is it true that you like me?" she asked quietly.

"No," he said. We all looked at the bottle, which was spewing white smoke. All of our heads whipped back to James. He kissed Lily on the nose and said, "I love you." White smoke poured from the bottle, filling the room in seconds. When Remus had finally cleared the smoke, we were all greeted with the sight of Lily kissing the daylights out of James.

"Sorry, mates," he said, pulling away from a red-faced Lily. "We're going to have to skip out on the rest of the game." With that he stood and pulled Lily to her feet and they both rushed out of the dorm.

We were all silent until Pete broke the silence. "So whose turn is it?"

"Mine," Marlene said. "I'm the next person on her left. So, Remus." The boy next to me froze. "Truth or dare?"

"I won't deny that I'm slightly afraid of you, Marlene, so I think I'm always going to pick truth for you," he admitted. The girl smiled.

"Lovely," she said. "Is it true that you fancy someone in this room?" Remus took in a deep breath and blew it out slowly.

"Firewhiskey," he said. I stared at him as he took a drink from the bottle. I glanced from him to Marlene; that must be it! He had a crush on Marlene, and that's why he always looked so upset when she flirted with me! Well, he can have her, I thought. If he can get her away from Sirius that is.

"Olivia," Remus said when he'd put the lid back on the bottle. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare," she said bravely. Peter looked at her with admiration.

"I dare you to… charm your hair Slytherin green for a week," he said. She scoffed and pointed her wand at her hair and it immediately turned a dark green. I laughed at her face when she pulled a lock of it in front of her face.

"On second thought," she said, pointing her wand at her hair again, changing it back to the pretty blonde it had been before. Then she picked up the bottle of firewhiskey and took a big drink. "Ohh, that's strong," she said, obviously trying not to cough. I chuckled at her reaction; it was much like mine.

She took a deep breath, then looked around the room at us before she finally landed on Sirius. "Black, truth or dare?"

"Dare," he answered.

"I dare you to take off one article of clothing every time someone drinks from the bottle," she said, earning a hurt look from Peter. "Don't worry, Pete," she said, cupping his cheek. "I'm just trying to get him and Marlene out so we can win." At that he smiled and kissed her smiling mouth. And didn't stop. For a long time.

"Then again, I don't really care about winning," she said, pulling away from him. They both stood and Peter chased her from the room, causing her to giggle. We heard a thud against the wall once they left and we all knew they didn't make it too far.

"Well, that was fun!" Sirius exclaimed, causing the rest of us to laugh. "So, whose turn is it?"

"I think technically it's Remus' turn," I said.

"Truth or dare, Michael?" my fellow werewolf asked me. I analyzed his face, then decided truth would be easier. I said this and he smiled.

"Is it true that you fancy someone here at Hogwarts?" he asked. That was a hard question. Did I?

"I can't answer that. I'm not really for sure," I said, and the smoke turned white. Remus frowned, but shrugged.

"Marlene, truth or dare?" I asked.

"Truth," she said.

"Is it true that you want to bang Sirius?" I asked, a grin on my face. She scowled, but truthfully said yes.

"Michael, truth or dare?"

"Truth," I said, thinking there nothing she could say to me that could embarrass me.

"Do you even like girls?" she said. I stared at her.

"Where the hell did that come from?" I asked, hoping to stall her. I wasn't ready for it to come out like this.

"Well, if you're not interested in me, you obviously like boys," she said. Sirius stared at her like she'd grown another head.

"Does that matter to you?" he asked the raven-haired beauty. She flung her hair over her shoulder and muttered something that I couldn't make out but Sirius clearly could.

"Get the fuck out of here, McKinnon," he growled. "Now." She looked offended but stormed out anyway, calling both me and Sirius some colorful names. Sirius threw the Truth Bottle at the door right as she slammed it behind her.

That was interesting.


	4. Chapter 4 -- Alternate Ending

**A/N: This is the alternate ending to Michael Hayes, the American for those of you who are uncomfortable with slash or just wanted to see something else happen. If you want to read all the steaminess of the original, go ahead to the next chapter. If you're one of those who are against gay relations, this one is for you, even though there are still a few kisses and talks about being together.**

**I've tried as hard as I could to make this stick with my original plans, and I hope you guys like it. It's a lot shorter than all of the other chapters because, obviously, I took a lot of it out.**

**Anyhoozles, enjoy! :)**

"Sorry about that, mates. If I had known she was like that I never would have invited her," Sirius said to me and Remus. I shrugged; I knew she was crazy. "And Remus, I'm really sorry. I know she doesn't know, but she still shouldn't have said those things."

"It's okay, Sirius," Remus said, laying back on his elbows. "It's not like I haven't heard them before." I gave him a questioning look, but he just sighed and closed his eyes. I couldn't deny that he looked very attractive just then.

"Look, Mikey, we need to talk," Sirius said to me. I gave him my full attention, ready to have some of this confusion go away. "But you need to swear to keep an open mind." I nodded. "Remus isn't exactly straight."

"Understatement of the century, mate," Remus said, sitting back up and pulling his knees up to his chest. "I'm gayer than the fourth of July."

"Hey, that's a great holiday!" I said. "You Brits are just mad that we're celebrating our freedom from your crazy asses." Remus and Sirius laughed at me, but then Remus sighed.

"So, are you okay with it? That I'm gay, I mean," he asked softly.

"Why wouldn't I be? Now we can go out and look for boyfriends together," I said, so nonchalantly that I wasn't sure they'd heard me right, until Remus' eyes widened.

"Are you serious?" he asked.

"No, mate, that's me," Sirius said. "I'm the straight one." Remus rolled his eyes at his friend, then stared at me and smiled before looking back down at the floor, a grin still on his face.

"Truth or dare, Moony," Sirius said after a few moments' silence.

"What?" he asked, his head whipping up to stare at Sirius.

"You haven't quit, have you?" he asked us. I shook my head, wanting to see where this was going. Remus looked up at me then back at Sirius before reluctantly shaking his head. "So, truth or dare?"

"D-Dare?" Remus said. I smiled and shook my head.

"Bad idea, Remus," I said to him. He gave me the very odd British "fuck you" but kept his gaze fixed on Sirius, which only made me laugh.

"I dare you to snog Mikey." I wasn't laughing anymore. But I figured if I had to snog someone, I'm glad it would be Remus and not Marlene again.

I turned to Remus, and in a very stereotypical gay voice said, "Come here, you!" which made Remus laugh, but it succeeded in loosening him up. He faced me, taking a deep breath and letting it out. I opened my arms and waggled my eyebrows suggestively, which made him laugh so hard that he bent over until his head touched the floor, clutching his stomach.

"Come on, Moonpie! I don't have all day!" I said, keeping the funny voice. Remus took a few calming breaths, but finally sat upright, his feet tucked under his ass. He used his arms to scoot his body closer to mine, and with the way he was sitting, he was slightly taller than me.

My heart started beating a little faster; I was getting nervous. I'd never kissed anyone before, unless you counted Marlene. Which I didn't. I didn't know what to do. What if I messed up? What if I—

Well. Remus' lips were definitely better than Marlene's. My eyes closed automatically and my hand curled in his hair, which was incredibly soft. His tongue trailed across my bottom lip and I let out an embarrassing whining noise that made Remus smile. Too soon, he pulled away.

I stared, wide-eyed at him, and he got a concerned look on his face. "That… That was your first kiss, wasn't it?" he asked. I blinked.

"That depends," I answered. "Marlene kissed me today in Honeyduke's, but it was more of a violation that a kiss. So, yeah, I guess that was my first kiss. Is that okay? Did I do something wrong?"

Remus chuckled and ran a hand through his hair. "No, you definitely didn't do anything wrong. I'm just wondering if you're sure you're gay. I mean, if that was your first kiss, how do you know?"

I took a deep breath, summoning my Gryffindor courage. "Because I really, really liked that," I answered honestly. "And I don't look at girls the way straight guys do. They're just kind of there. But you…" I sighed, and then realized what I said. "I mean boys! Boys is what I meant. I meant boys. Boys… are… nice…" I finished lamely. Remus looked extremely amused. I turned to tell Sirius that I was done with this game, but he wasn't there.

"Hey, where's Sirius?" I asked Remus, who shrugged.

"He left while we were… er… preoccupied," he said.

"Oh," I said quietly. "Well, what are we supposed to do now? Everyone's gone." And then I realized what I'd just implied. "I didn't mean that—"

"Calm down," he laughed. "I know you didn't. But, if you wanted to maybe, make sure that you're a hundred percent gay, I could help you." My face blushed at his suggestion.

"Should I?" I whispered, feeling extremely shy suddenly.

"I wouldn't object," he whispered back, placing two fingers under my chin and pulling my lips back to his. I felt goosebumps pop up all over my body and couldn't help but moan when Remus' tongue trailed across my lip, opening my mouth to his. I gasped when his tongue swept inside, urging my tongue to slide across his.

Remus moaned when our tongues touched and I felt it all the way down in the growing bulge in my pants. I pulled away from Remus, suddenly very scared of what was happening. We were both breathless, but I thought the flush in his cheeks made Remus look extremely attractive. Not to mention his lips, which were red from all the attention.

"Are you okay?" he asked breathlessly. I couldn't answer him honestly, so I left it at a shrug. "Okay, tell me how you're feeling," he suggested. I took a deep breath.

"Well, kind of scared. And turned on. And definitely gay," I said, earning a laugh from the boy in front of me.

"That's good. I'd be kind of offended if you weren't gay and you just made me feel like that," he said. I looked down, but immediately looked back up at Remus, my eyes wide. He had a bulge, too.

He followed my gaze and looked back up at me, his eyebrows knitted together. "It's okay to get hard," he said bluntly. I blushed furiously, unsure of what to say or do. Remus scooted closer to me and took my hands in his, removing them from their spot on my lap. So much for trying to hide my erection.

"Is that why you're scared?" he asked softly, and I nodded. "Has no one ever caused you to have a hard-on?"

"No one's ever been interested enough to try," I admitted. Remus sighed, and I was sure that he was going to be just like every other guy I'd tried to get with; completely uninterested in a virgin.

"Well," he said, putting his hand under my chin and forcing me to look at him. "I'm glad I was the first." He gave me a sweet smile and I couldn't help but press my lips to his, brief but sweet.

"Thanks, Remus," I said. He shrugged.

"Don't worry about it," he said, squirming a bit. I gave him a questioning look and he blushed a bit.

"I'm becoming a bit uncomfortable," he said. My eyes widened as I realized what he was talking about. I was one hundred percent I was gay, but I wasn't sure I was ready to take that step yet. I had just had my first kiss that day, for Merlin's sake!

"Remus, I… I don't think I can go that far just yet," I said quietly. I looked down at the floor, afraid that I had let him down and that he wouldn't be interested in me anymore.

"I wasn't asking you to," he said, leaning down so I had to look him in the eye. "I'm not going to pressure you into doing something you're uncomfortable with, Michael. But if you ever feel like you want to take that next step, I'll be here for you. And I'll never pressure you into going farther than you're comfortable with."

My heart swelled up with happiness and I felt my lips curl into a smile. I was happy knowing I could always count on Remus, in all aspects of my new life at Hogwarts. He was not only my best friend, but also my alpha – why did that thought turn me on? – and my… sex buddy?

"Remus, what are we?" I asked, earning a thoughtful look from the boy next to me.

"I'm not really sure," he answered honestly. "What do you want to be?" I took a deep breath, not really sure how to answer that question. I'd never had a boyfriend, or girlfriend for that matter, so I wasn't really sure what that kind of relationship entailed.

"Are you completely sure you're gay?" he asked again. I got the feeling that he just didn't want me to suddenly change my mind, and that thought made me very happy.

"Actually, I think I might go see what Marlene's doing tomorrow night," I said with a smile. Remus kicked my calf and I laughed at him.

"What are _you_ doing tomorrow night?" he asked quietly. I slowly looked up at him, expecting to see a joking smile, but he was staring down at his hands.

"Are you asking me out, Remus Lupin?" I asked. He shrugged. "Well, I can't really say no to my alpha, can I?" His head jerked up and he stared at me. After a few moments, he blinked and his eyebrows furrowed together.

"Why does that turn me on?" I laughed. We were made for each other.


	5. Chapter 4 -- Original

"Sorry about that, mates. If I had known she was like that I never would have invited her," Sirius said to me and Remus. I shrugged; I knew she was crazy. "And Remus, I'm really sorry. I know she doesn't know, but she still shouldn't have said those things."

"It's okay, Sirius," Remus said, laying back on his elbows. "It's not like I haven't heard them before." I gave him a questioning look, but he just sighed and closed his eyes. I couldn't deny that he looked very attractive just then.

"Look, Mikey, we need to talk," Sirius said to me. I gave him my full attention, ready to have some of this confusion go away. "But you need to swear to keep an open mind." I nodded. "Remus isn't exactly straight."

"Understatement of the century, mate," Remus said, sitting back up and pulling his knees up to his chest. "I'm gayer than the fourth of July."

"Hey, that's a great holiday!" I said. "You Brits are just mad that we're celebrating our freedom from your crazy asses." Remus and Sirius laughed at me, but then Remus sighed.

"So, are you okay with it? That I'm gay, I mean," he asked softly.

"Why wouldn't I be? Now we can go out and look for boyfriends together," I said, so nonchalantly that I wasn't sure they'd heard me right, until Remus' eyes widened.

"Are you serious?" he asked.

"No, mate, that's me," Sirius said. "I'm the straight one." Remus rolled his eyes at his friend, then stared at me and smiled before looking back down at the floor, a grin still on his face.

"Truth or dare, Moony," Sirius said after a few moments' silence.

"What?" he asked, his head whipping up to stare at Sirius.

"You haven't quit, have you?" he asked us. I shook my head, wanting to see where this was going. Remus looked up at me then back at Sirius before reluctantly shaking his head. "So, truth or dare?"

"D-Dare?" Remus said. I smiled and shook my head.

"Bad idea, Remus," I said to him. He gave me the very odd British "fuck you" but kept his gaze fixed on Sirius, which only made me laugh.

"I dare you to snog Mikey." I wasn't laughing anymore. But I figured if I had to snog someone, I'm glad it would be Remus and not Marlene again.

I turned to Remus, and in a very stereotypical gay voice said, "Come here, you!" which made Remus laugh, but it succeeded in loosening him up. He faced me, taking a deep breath and letting it out. I opened my arms and waggled my eyebrows suggestively, which made him laugh so hard that he bent over until his head touched the floor, clutching his stomach.

"Come on, Moonpie! I don't have all day!" I said, keeping the funny voice. Remus took a few calming breaths, but finally sat upright, his feet tucked under his ass. He used his arms to scoot his body closer to mine, and with the way he was sitting, he was slightly taller than me.

My heart started beating a little faster; I was getting nervous. I'd never kissed anyone before, unless you counted Marlene. Which I didn't. I didn't know what to do. What if I messed up? What if I—

Well. Remus' lips were definitely better than Marlene's. My eyes closed automatically and my hand curled in his hair, which was incredibly soft. His tongue trailed across my bottom lip and I let out an embarrassing whining noise that made Remus smile. Too soon, he pulled away.

I stared, wide-eyed at him, and he got a concerned look on his face. "That… That was your first kiss, wasn't it?" he asked. I blinked.

"That depends," I answered. "Marlene kissed me today in Honeyduke's, but it was more of a violation that a kiss. So, yeah, I guess that was my first kiss. Is that okay? Did I do something wrong?"

Remus chuckled and ran a hand through his hair. "No, you definitely didn't do anything wrong. I'm just wondering if you're sure you're gay. I mean, if that was your first kiss, how do you know?"

I took a deep breath, summoning my Gryffindor courage. "Because I really, really liked that," I answered honestly. "And I don't look at girls the way straight guys do. They're just kind of there. But you…" I sighed, and then realized what I said. "I mean boys! Boys is what I meant. I meant boys. Boys… are… nice…" I finished lamely. Remus looked extremely amused. I turned to tell Sirius that I was done with this game, but he wasn't there.

"Hey, where's Sirius?" I asked Remus, who shrugged.

"He left while we were… er… preoccupied," he said.

"Oh," I said quietly. "Well, what are we supposed to do now? Everyone's gone." And then I realized what I'd just implied. "I didn't mean that—"

"Calm down," he laughed. "I know you didn't. But, if you wanted to maybe, make sure that you're a hundred percent gay, I could help you." My face blushed at his suggestion.

"Should I?" I whispered, feeling extremely shy suddenly.

"I wouldn't object," he whispered back, placing two fingers under my chin and pulling my lips back to his. I felt goosebumps pop up all over my body and couldn't help but moan when Remus' tongue trailed across my lip, opening my mouth to his. I gasped when his tongue swept inside, urging my tongue to slide across his.

Remus moaned when our tongues touched and I felt it all the way down in the growing bulge in my pants. I pulled away from Remus, suddenly very scared of what was happening. We were both breathless, but I thought the flush in his cheeks made Remus look extremely attractive. Not to mention his lips, which were red from all the attention.

"Are you okay?" he asked breathlessly. I couldn't answer him honestly, so I left it at a shrug. "Okay, tell me how you're feeling," he suggested. I took a deep breath.

"Well, kind of scared. And turned on. And definitely gay," I said, earning a laugh from the boy in front of me.

"That's good. I'd be kind of offended if you weren't gay and you just made me feel like that," he said. I looked down, but immediately looked back up at Remus, my eyes wide. He had a bulge, too.

He followed my gaze and looked back up at me, his eyebrows knitted together. "It's okay to get hard," he said bluntly. I blushed furiously, unsure of what to say or do. Remus scooted closer to me and took my hands in his, removing them from their spot on my lap. So much for trying to hide my erection.

"Is that why you're scared?" he asked softly, and I nodded. "Has no one ever caused you to have a hard-on?"

"No one's ever been interested enough to try," I admitted. Remus sighed, and I was sure that he was going to be just like every other guy I'd tried to get with; completely uninterested in a virgin.

"Well," he said, putting his hand under my chin and forcing me to look at him. "I'm glad I was the first." He gave me a sweet smile and I couldn't help but press my lips to his, brief but sweet.

"Thanks, Remus," I said. He shrugged.

"Don't worry about it," he said, squirming a bit. I gave him a questioning look and he blushed a bit.

"I'm becoming a bit uncomfortable," he said. My eyes widened as I realized what he was talking about.

"Is… Is there anything I can do to help?" I asked softly but boldly, resting my hands on his thighs. He stared down at my hands and swallowed noisily.

"Michael, I really don't want to pressure you into doing something you're not ready for, so if you could just move your hands that would be grea… ay… oh… Holy fuck," he said, as I ran my hands over the bulge in his pants curiously. He grabbed my hands and held them to the floor. "I'm telling you Michael. Don't start something you can't finish."

"What happened to experimenting?" I asked, irritated that I was being shot down yet again. I pulled my hands away and stood, ignoring the uncomfortable tightness in my pants as I walked towards the door, unable to face him after his rejection.

Suddenly, he was grabbing my hand. I turned back around and glared down at him, willing my tears to wait until I was far away from him.

"Don't go, Michael," he pleaded. I cocked an eyebrow, silently asking him why I shouldn't. "If you really want to, and I mean if you're completely sure, then I guess… we can… experiment some more. But only if you're one hundred percent sure."

I thought about what he'd said; was I ready? My cock sure seemed to think so. I sighed and sat back down in front of Remus.

"Now what?" I asked, somewhat impatiently. He had kind of killed the mood and now I was just irritated and unsatisfied.

Remus looked at me for a moment, then tackled me to the ground and kissed me fiercely. I suddenly forgot about my previous irritation because I loved the feel of his lips against mine. I couldn't even be upset when he pulled away because he then put his mouth to my neck and began sucking lightly. I moaned when I felt one of his hands playing with the hem of my muggle t-shirt.

He slid his hand up my shirt agonizingly slowly and I made a very unmanly sound when his thumb found my nipple. He softly bit my neck then licked the bite, causing a shiver to run through my whole body.

Remus pulled away causing me to pout and follow him, but he stopped me with one hand against my shoulder. He undid his tie – he was in uniform for some reason – and threw it behind him, causing my dick to twitch against my jeans. Remus ran his hands slowly down my chest, then my stomach, and then my shirt was off. I wasn't sure how he managed that so quickly, but then I didn't care because he was pushing me back down to the floor and his mouth closed around my nipple.

I was so lightheaded I thought I might pass out, but I forced myself to keep breathing because I didn't want to miss a second of this sweet torture. I moaned when Remus scraped his teeth across the sensitive skin of my chest as his mouth made it way up my neck, across my jaw and to my mouth. I kissed him back furiously, knotting my hands in his hair and lightly pulling. I smiled when he moaned and then I pulled again, this time a little harder.

Remus pulled his lips from mine and growled. "If you want this to last any longer I suggest you stop that." I smiled, glad that I knew something that would make him come undone. He bit my lip sharply as punishment, then made his way down to the button of my jeans. He undid the button and was almost to the zipper.

"Stop." Oh, come on, Michael! That's not what you were supposed to say! I sat up on my elbows and bit my lip, hoping he wouldn't be upset.

But Remus didn't look upset at all. He sat back on his legs and looked down at me patiently.

"I… What are you going to do?" I asked stupidly. Remus smiled sweetly down at me, then leaned down and kissed me softly.

"Can I show you?" he murmured against my lips. I pulled away from him and stared into his deep brown eyes. It took me less than a second to know that I could trust him fully. He was my alpha after all.

Whoa. Was that supposed to turn me on?

I nodded at him, and he smiled, kissed me quickly and then kissed a trail down my bare stomach. I fell back against the floor when he unzipped my jeans and my cock was finally freed.

"Going starkers under your trousers? I'm surprised at you, Michael," Remus said softly. "But very, very happy." And then he took me into his mouth and it took everything I had not to scream him name.

It felt so good! His mouth was warm and soft, and he put just the right amount of pressure on me when he sucked upwards and then went back down.

"Fuck, Remus!" I moaned when he jerked my pants down to my knees and took my balls in his hands. "For the love of Merlin, don't stop!"

And he didn't. It wasn't long before my hands were gripping his hair roughly and I was on the edge of orgasm.

Then he did something I wasn't expecting.

"Holy fuck!" I exclaimed, jerking away from him. He stopped his ministrations and looked innocently up at me. "What was that?"

"My finger," he said softly. "Was that not okay?"

"Oh, god, I don't know," I moaned, aching for release but not sure if I wanted to go that far.

"Can we try it? If it makes you uncomfortable, I'll stop," he said quietly. I couldn't talk so I just nodded, and he returned to what he was doing.

I loved the feel of his mouth on me, but I wasn't so sure how I felt about his finger rubbing against my entrance. It didn't feel bad, but it was different. And then he gently thrust that finger inside and I gasped. It was extremely uncomfortable, but I couldn't tell him to stop. Curiosity and the need for release told me that I needed to let him continue what he was doing.

And I was very happy that I let him. At first it was very uncomfortable, but then he pushed his finger in and out and it started to feel good. And then he added another finger, and then felt even better. And then he started curling them on their way out and—

"Fucking shit!" I yelled. Between the feel of his mouth on my dick and whatever he was doing with his fingers, I wasn't going to last much longer. I could feel it building, higher and higher and then, "Remus, I'm going to come!"

"Please do," he said, and that was it. I shot my hot seed into his mouth, screaming his name as I did so, and I spasmed until his sweet mouth had sucked me dry.

I fell against the floor, breathing heavily but feeling satisfied, and couldn't help but smile when Remus pressed his lips to mine and I could taste myself on his tongue. I pulled away, still breathless, and his mouth pressed softly to the side of my jaw.

"How was that?" he asked, laying on his side next to me. I looked over at him, his face flushed and eyes bright.

"It was… FABULOUS!" I exclaimed, using the funny voice from before, causing Remus to shake with laughter. It was then that I noticed he'd never gotten his release. I kissed him softly on the lips and slowly trailed my hands down to the button on his trousers. I popped the button open when he grabbed my hands in one of his and shook his head. I pulled away, giving him a questioning glance.

"You don't have to do that," he said. "I'm not going to ask that of you." I frowned. I wasn't sure I was ready to suck him off, but there was one thing I knew how to do, pretty damn well if I did say so myself.

"Shut up," I said, unzipping his pants and pulling both his pants and his underwear – Remus was a boxer man, interesting – down past his erection. I pushed him onto his back and then pulled away to admire his length. I'd never seen a penis, other than my own, and I knew I was bigger than average, which meant Remus was really big.

That would be frightening if we went any farther, but for now it was fine. I wrapped my hand around him, lightly pumping my arm until I felt him relax into the floor. I swept the pre-come from his tip and used it to help me slide my hand up and down more easily.

I reached up and kissed Remus passionately, knotting my other hand in his hair and pulling lightly like I had discovered he liked, which caused him to moan my name.

That's a nice sound, I thought as I pumped my hand a little faster. I pulled his hair a bit harder and bit down on his lip at the same time and Remus arched into my hand. I liked being in control like this; it was scary but fun.

Using my grip on his hair, I pulled Remus' head back so I could leave a hickey on his neck, and as soon as I lightly bit the soft skin where his shoulder and his neck met, he grabbed my shoulders tightly and moaned.

"Fuck, Michael." I took this as a good sign and continued to suck on his neck, sometimes blowing on the bruising skin. "I'm going to come," he said. "Harder, Michael."

That gave me the courage I needed. I stopped pumping with my hand and untangled my other hand from his hair, then slid down his body and took him into my mouth.

"Fuck!" he yelled. I hummed against him. It was uncomfortable at first, but after a few seconds of adjusting, I took him deeper into my mouth. Slowly but surely, I finally fit all that I could, then sucked hard as I pulled back up. I did that about four times before his hands were in my hair, making me suck him faster. I did as he directed and soon, he was coming into my mouth. It surprised me at first, but I kept sucking him until he was finished, then I cleaned him with my mouth. He tasted salty with a vague sweetness. I liked it.

When I finally pulled away from his already softening length, I noticed that he was frowning, which was not the reaction I wanted. I must have done something wrong. I scooted away from him until my back hit the couch then buttoned and zipped my jeans.

I wiped the moisture from my eyes as Remus silently sat up and clothed himself. He looked for me, and frowned more when he saw that I was so far away. He crawled over to me and wiped a stray tear from my cheek. I looked away from him but he turned my face back to his.

"What's wrong? Did I go too far?" he asked softly. I shook my head, glad that no more tears threatened to spill. "Then what is it? What did I do?" I laughed humorlessly.

"You didn't do anything," I said coldly. "But I'm obviously not what you're looking for so we can just forget this happened." And then I stood, grabbed my shirt and put it back on before walking out of the room.

I didn't get far. In fact, I found myself on the couch in front of the fire after I made my way down the stairs, ignoring the questions thrown at me by Pete and James and Lily and Sirius. I didn't acknowledge them at all as I plopped down unceremoniously on the couch. I stared into the fire, well into the early hours of the morning until I felt a weight on the other side of the couch. I looked over and was completely unsurprised to see Remus.

"Hi," I said grumpily. I'd had time to think over everything that happened and decided that I was the one who had overreacted, but that didn't mean I was happy.

"Are you going to explain to me what happened earlier?" he asked, leaning back against the couch, extending his long, lean legs. I sighed longingly then stared back into the fire.

"I overreacted," I said simply, earning a snort from Remus.

"Clearly," he said. "But that still doesn't explain why, or what happened."

I sighed and turned to face him. "You were frowning. Why were you frowning?"

"What do you mean 'I was frowning'? When was I frowning?" he asked, bewildered.

"After I… finished what I was doing to you," I said shyly. "I looked up and you were frowning and it made me very self-conscious and upset and I took it out on you and I'm sorry. But I still want to know why you were frowning."

"Are you kidding?" he asked, chuckling. "I'd just got one off. You can't expect me to be all smiley. I was just trying to catch my breath I suppose; you have a very talented mouth." My jaw dropped.

"Well, shit," I said. "Thanks." We were both silent. I wasn't quite sure what I was supposed to say; we'd clearly both had a good time, but what was supposed to happen now?

Remus cleared his throat, breaking the silence. "So, are you sure you're gay?" I glared at him, which made him laugh.

"Actually, I think I might go see what Marlene's doing tomorrow night," I said with a smile. Remus kicked my calf and I laughed at him.

"What are you doing tomorrow night?" he asked quietly. I slowly looked up at him, expecting to see a joking smile, but he was staring down at his hands.

"Are you asking me out, Remus Lupin?" I asked. He shrugged. "Well, I can't really say no to my alpha, can I?" His head jerked up and he stared at me. After a few moments, he blinked and his eyebrows furrowed together.

"Why does that turn me on?" I laughed. We were made for each other.


End file.
